Tuesday’s Best Reviewed: The Grinder

Welove it. Criticslove it. Almost no one‘s watching it. Really, it’s putting up some of the lowest ratings imaginable, up to the end. Hope for renewal seems bleak. But what are The Grinder’s views on settling? He never does. Rob Lowe is fighting for it. There’s some hope in that it’s a product of Fox’s production company, which is always a plus. In any case, the marvel of a show goes out on a high note, as “Full Circle” brings the delightfully predictable twists and the meta at a furious pace, and earns a perfect score from last night’s recappers. Most Tuesday shows do just fine, with New Girl‘s wedding of Schmidt & CeCe bringing back a ton of classic recurring characters, while hitting every sweet note perfectly. Kathryn VanArandonk of Vulture raves it “returns to the storytelling it does best: Big set pieces, big emotional moments, wall-to-wall jokes, and smart twists on old sitcom tropes. And yes, True American.” Fresh Off the Boat reveals Fun Jessica who is fun, and Cool Louis who is less so, and earns a solid A-/B+ (ok, Regular Jessica wouldn’t accept that). Only Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. draws groans, and we won’t belabor that.

So, that’s that. The Grinder makes as strong a case possible to return for a second go-around, and they do it well poking fun at those who suggested they should change. After bemoaning the fact that, at best, The Grinder, will find its audience after the fact, when all the #GetTheGrinderOff’s in the world can’t save it, Joshua Rivera at Vulture sums it up nicely: “Does any of this make sense? No. Does it end with Pop Sanderson embracing Dean and exclaiming, “You got me off son, just like you said you would?” Yes. Because that’s what the Grinder does. He gets people off. Let’s just hope he can do it for many more seasons.” Or in the opening argument from AV Club‘s Molly Eichel, “Well that was just a fantastic episode. Or was it? It was.” We agree. Or do we! I think the answer is clear.